Firefighters fight fires to prevent loss of life and the destruction of property and the environment. Firefighting is a highly technical skill that requires professionals who have spent years in training in both general firefighting techniques and specialized areas of expertise.
A fire can rapidly spread and endanger many lives; however, with modern firefighting equipment and techniques, catastrophe can be avoided. Vehicles such as a fire engine or fire appliance are designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water and other equipment. Typically, water is pumped onto a fire by passing the water from a pump through hoses to the fire, from an array of valves.
There are numerous different types of fire fighting vehicles which are uniquely adapted to the array of differing environments that fires may occur, such as vehicles adapted to fight wild fires and bush fires. For example, wild land firefighting requires unique vehicles that can easily navigate difficult terrain and high-gradient roads, be self-reliant, and have high clearances for wheels and suspension. Wild land fire engines and wild land fire tenders may have lower capacities to carry water, but can be deployed to fight fires in environments where an urban fire apparatus would be unable to operate due to the terrain.
Moreover, complete self-contained firefighting apparatuses, commonly known as a skid unit, are designed for use on/in commercially available vehicle platforms. Vehicles such as pickup trucks, flatbed trucks, trailers, vans, off-road vehicles and others can easily be fitted with a proper size skid unit for a variety of firefighting operations. These skid units are effective in handling off-road grass fires, fairs, festivals, special events, rural construction areas, mining operations, dumpster and trash fires, car fires and many others. These skid units provide both stationary operation and the ability to pump water while the vehicle is moving. This contrasts with standard engines or pumpers, which use the vehicle's engine to power the pumps, meaning that the vehicle must be stationary while the pump is in operation.
Many problems are commonly encountered with fire vehicles that utilize skid units related to safety and the practical operation of the skid unit. Currently, in order for firefighters to effectively operate the hoses and fight fires they are required to either walk along and with the vehicle while the vehicle is in motion or sit on the truck bedrails, tailgate or even on top of the skid unit itself which is inherently dangerous. This increases the chances that a firefighter may fall off the fire vehicle or stumble and fall because of potential obstacles and uneven terrain as the vehicle moves about. Further, the firefighter is in an unfavorable position to access unit pump controls while utilizing the hoses. By enlarge, these problems reduce safety and increase exposure to the fire while limiting the firefighters ability to efficiently and effectively operate the unit controls and hoses while fighting fires.
The present invention provides an apparatus for reducing these problems. The difficulties inherent in the art are therefore overcome in a way which is simple and efficient, while providing better and more advantageous results.